Students Bring Back Experiences From Abroad By Noel De La Rosa Staff Writer

From the jungles of Africa to the shores of Australia to the streets of Paris, many Wesleyan students live a small portion of their lives studying abroad each year.

Jane Edwards, director of the Office of International Studies, said that many students have countless reasons for studying abroad.

"They want to experience a different educational style in a different educational environment in the context of their Wesleyan undergraduate experience," Edwards said.

Different environments can lead to culture shock, but for most people a new language, religion, and culture is exactly what they are seeking.

"When you’re there, there’s nothing to remind you of home, so it makes it a more intense experience," said Peter Leckman ’99, who traveled to Egypt.

For Ted Boretti ’99, who studied in Tanzania, the culture shock started almost immediately after he stepped off the plane. His white complexion made him a salient figure to be stared at while he was in Africa.

"The stares you get are so overwhelming, you don’t know whether to smile or look straight ahead or not," Boretti said.

After an initial fascination, most students agreed that the local people were remarkably friendly.

"Even if they don’t have very much, they want to offer you a cup of tea or whatever," said Jill Clark ’99, who traveled to Kenya. "They’re really proud of who they are and where they come from and they want to share that with you."

Clark observed which aspects of American culture entered the native culture.

"Of all the things that I would want American culture to represent to other people, some of the warped ones actually end up there, like movies and soap operas," Clark said.

Some students who studied abroad observed how much friendlier other cultures are compared to American culture.

"In Tanzania, the first thing you do is say, ‘Hello, how are you? How was your day?’," Boretti said. "When you come to America, if you say, ‘How are you?’ they look at you funny and say ‘No. Shut up. Let me order my meal.’"

The only social frustration for some students was the fact that they could not have deep conversations with the locals because of language barriers. Communication was possible, but not at the same level as if both the students and the locals had an equal mastery of the other’s native tongue.

"My best friends [in Egypt] were people who didn’t speak English," Leckman said.

Intimate connections weren’t just formed with the locals, but also with other Wesleyan students. According to Boretti, the interactions between himself and his classmates and their interactions with Tanzanian culture made their friendship more intense than if they had been at Wesleyan.

For many students, some of the best aspects of studying abroad were also some of the most challenging. Students leave behind the comfort and familiarity of friends and family to be independent, but that independence can lead to loneliness.

"There were times when I’d get letters from friends, specifically from Wesleyan, and they’d write about life here [at Wesleyan]," said Sean Bowditch ’99, who went to India and Nepal for Tibetan Studies. "Even though one of the reasons for going abroad was to get out of that rut, you also miss the comfort of that lifestyle."

Some students found that loneliness and isolation wasn’t always bad.

"That loneliness was vital for me to help me figure out things and really force me to get away from home culture and integrate into theirs because I had to," Leckman said.

Some things, however, were just a bit too unbearable.

"The ketchup in East Africa is terrible," Clark said.

Many students seek adventure when they travel abroad. Most aren’t disappointed. Leckman was arrested by the Egyptian military for not having a passport. His efforts to convince them that he was not an Israeli spy eventually worked and he was released after spending a day with the officers.

"It was a bizarre, frightening, crazy experience, but they ended up letting me go and me being good friends with them," Leckman said.

A few students became so immersed in the culture of the land they lived in that readjusting to American culture proved dif ficult.

"It took me a while to stop speaking Arabic," Leckman said. "When I’d buy a piece of gum, I’d ask them how much in Arabic."

Studying abroad made some students see how overwhelming American culture can be.

"Anything that you look at there’s so much of," Clark said. "There’s 107 channels on TV, eight lane highways and everything’s just big and out of proportion."

"Everything here is so quick. You gotta be on time for your job so you can work as hard as you can. It’s just so contrived," Boretti said. "In Africa, they have so little, everything’s so much more real. It seems like a more human pace."

For most students, they bring back with a renewed confidence, and they are better prepared for the real world. Most importantly, they bring back a new perspective, which is an education in an of itself. These lessons will last a lifetime.

"I feel like I come home with that extra perspective, that extra view, that extra experience, that extra piece that will surface, 10, 15, 20 years down the road, and I’ll remember that experience and that will somehow, some way help me deal with some situation," Bowditch said.